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Whisky Agency Speyside 1973

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Whisky Agency Speyside 1973

A theme of today’s society is by saying something several times bizarrely many onlookers will believe it is true. This specific method is utilised by the future husband of Alexandra to great effect. To a certain extent, brands flooding the market with positive literature and online events such as Twitter tastings or influencer events adopt the same tactic.

Writing is a form of therapy for me personally and a process I find enjoyable. The voices bounce around internally and at times I struggle to control or propagate their ramblings. On occasion, these do come across like a dominant loudspeaker: all anarchic and distorted. Whilst on other occasions the theme becomes a faint whisper lost amongst the text of a review that is far from traditional. Needless to say, I don’t particularly enjoy the traditional whisky review, which tends to stack up like so:

1. Copy or regurgitate details from a press release depending on your ability.
2. Insert a brief throwaway thought to underline you’re still human and actually present – unless you’re writing for a magazine and only care about the paycheque.
3. Bottle details. Deliberately forget to say anything about the price.
4. Tastings notes. Either very safe or pedestrian but throw in a ridiculous flavour to show what an eejit you are.
5. The score. Stick to a figure 80 to 90 for the mark and don’t rock the boat.

Shoot me now if we ever produce something like this at MALT. I’d rather just walk away if we ended up in the benign cesspool that seems to capture most whisky reviews. Back when I started blasting away at the keyboard in March 2010 – remember those days when whisky was more affordable? There was an evident Tsunami of positivity about almost anything whisky-related. For an onlooker such as myself, it was suffocating and not representative of my own experiences with whisky. I felt somewhat excluded and possibly harbouring an exclusive deviant sense of smell or a palate limited to fried Scottish cuisine. A brief walk around Inverkeithing would always confirm I could smell given its proximity to the water treatment plant and the local chippy was still as bad as it’s ever been.

No, clearly there was something else afoot. In recent times I’m pleased to say I’ve felt part of a silent ignored section of whisky enthusiasts who have discovered for themselves that a proportion of whisky today is overly expensive and dull as painting the garden fence. Some of these individuals are now venturing onto social media in its various forms and offering their own viewpoint. Whether or not this is right or wrong is beside the point. It’s honest and without ties giving the onlooker true transparency. All credit to them and for trying to turn the rising tide of new releases and accompanying baloney into a more candid appraisal.

I’ve also noticed that some of my theories as mad as they seem have taken root in the minds of others. The Diageo Skye intellectual land grab is such an example that seems like a bit of fun online while I was residing on Skye itself. Driving across its stunning landscape – a necessity on the island to reach anywhere – you begin to notice place names or should I say whisky names. Yes, the Gaelic equivalents do help here and reinforce the point. Yes, I’ve had some fun with Macallan recently utilising the Lord of the Rings and Teletubbie entities and why not? Whisky is in danger of becoming so serious and languishing up its backside that we need to have fun whilst enjoying what’s in our glassware.

Needless to say, as this is a mysterious cask from 1973 there isn’t much we can talk about when it comes to the distillery. There are several reasons for this. For instance, it could be a Glenfarclas where George does not approve of independent bottlers using the distillery name. A man not to be trifled with, it’s rare to see a Glenfarclas outside of the official range. A gentleman’s agreement exists between the distillery and Cadenheads whereby they can bottle 2 releases per year using the name and no more. I could sidestep into the story about that mysterious single malt the Campbeltown team released a couple of years ago where the laser stamp on the bottle revealed its origins… but let’s not go there. Another explanation is that the cask origins could be lost to time. The 1970’s were the boom times of the last generation. Whether 1973 is the classic vintage or 1977 remains to be seen, but whisky was plentiful. When it all came crashing down at the end of the decade there was a loch of whisky sitting in warehouses with nowhere to go.

Casks will have been bought and sold via brokers and possibly the origins of the cask lost to time. This does happen or it may have been from the Speyside distillery and the bottler was having a joke despite all the speculation. I know of one such example but given the age of this cask, we can score that possibility off the list.

In the end, though does it really matter? An unknown cask allows you to approach the contents stripped bare of any preconceptions. Experience tells me that the Whisky Agency is a good and reliable independent bottler. A butt suggests flavour given these were superior in bygone decades compared to the rinsed variety we see nowadays. Then there are the underappreciated factors of time and patience. All of these should combine for a memorable experience. What we do know is this whisky was distilled sometime in 1973 before being bottled at 44 years of age from a sherry butt that produced just 90 bottles in 2017. Plenty of life with a strength of 46.8% and also non-chill filtered and natural colour – why mess with something that’s waited for so long?

Whisky Agency Speyside 1973 – review

Colour: gold leaf

On the nose: very honeyed with a subtle layer of wax. Some lemon, Pink lady apples, nutmeg and caramel popcorn. It is very stylish and refined. Very moreish. Apricots fade by, Jacob’s crackers, cinnamon buns and vanilla cream. Lots of tropical aspects pineapple with basil, mangoes all with the emphasis on ripeness.

In the mouth: very very easy to drink. Subtle red berries initially, stewed rhubarb, more of that waxy nature and lemon sponge with an aerosol cream. More honey, digestive biscuits and plenty of oak spices.

Conclusions

I really enjoyed this 1973 mystery dram from a drinkability viewpoint. I could see myself and friends romping through a bottle very easily. Would it reveal new nuances on such a journey? In all honesty, no. It’s a lovely Speysider, an example just to enjoy its skillset without expecting huge reveals or demanding focused concentration.

Score: 8/10

My thanks to Noortje for the sample and photography. Love the Dutch!


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